Law enforcement agencies in New York and around the country have been clamping down on drunk driving, and these efforts combined with persuasive public awareness campaigns appear to be bearing fruit, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The NSDUH, which is released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, provides federal agencies with data concerning drug use and alcohol and tobacco consumption in the United States.
When the NSDUH was first conducted using its current methodology in 2002, 15.3 percent of the respondents admitted that they had driven drunk during the previous 12 months. By 2014, that figure had dropped by more than four percentage points. The percentage of the respondents who admitted to using drugs or consuming alcohol and taking drugs before getting behind the wheel also fell.
The survey results provide a welcome respite for road safety advocates who have been struggling to come to terms with grim traffic accident fatality data. Figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that the number of Americans killed in drunk driving accidents is beginning to rise after years of steady decline. Low gas prices and a healthy economy have led to a surge in road traffic, and alcohol-related accident fatalities rose from 9,943 in 2014 to 10,265 in 2015 according to NHTSA.
The penalties for drunk driving can be extremely severe when road users have been seriously injured or killed, but these cases often hinge on the reliability of toxicology test results that may sometimes be challenged by criminal defense attorneys. Sophisticated testing equipment must be maintained according to strict protocols if it is to function correctly, and blood test evidence may be ruled inadmissible if a clear chain of custody can not be established for the sample used. Doubt may also be cast of the validity of breath and blood tests when the individual concerned suffers from certain medical conditions.
